Amos Yee in remand but Facebook posts appear

PHOTO: ST

Teenage blogger Amos Yee is into his third week of remand, yet his Facebook page has suddenly come alive again in the past two days.

Since Thursday, seven posts have appeared on the 16-year-old's public page.

The first, which read "What's up doc? Hahahaha…", popped up at about 5pm on Thursday.

It was followed a few hours later by another post, which posed the question: "How is it that I am in prison, yet I am still able to post something on Facebook?"

It is still not clear how the Facebook page is being updated.

The Singapore Prison Service confirmed that "all inmates and remandees do not have access to any telecommunication devices within the prison institutions".

Yee was found guilty on May 12 of uploading an obscene image and making remarks intending to hurt the feelings of Christians in a video.

He was remanded for three weeks on June 2, after District Judge Jasvender Kaur called for a report to assess if he is suitable for reformative training.

Many of the Facebook posts complain about prison life.

One laments the lack of exposure to sunshine, while others criticise the attitudes of police officers, such as towards Yee's opting for vegetarian meals.

All three of Yee's lawyers - Mr Alfred Dodwell, Mr Chong Jia Hao and Mr Ervin Tan - said when contacted that they were not aware the posts were being made.

Mr Chong said yesterday: "We aren't aware of how this is happening and we don't want to speculate. We'll just focus on preparing for the sentencing. Everything else is secondary."

Netizens had their own theories. Some speculated that Yee had written the posts beforehand and scheduled them to appear later. Others suggested that he had given his Facebook password to a third party, or that his account had been hacked.

Yee's mother, Madam Mary Toh, declined to comment on how the posts were being made.

He is next due in court on Tuesday, where he may learn his sentence.

oliviaho@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on June 20, 2015. Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.